**OFFICIAL M860TU/ETU Owners Lounge**

I have the NC1000 with mine, there is about half an inch overhang on either side.

 

By the way, to everyone about the whining noise. If you actually take off the back panel and turn the laptop on, the whining noise is coming directly from the south (north? the small silver one) heatsink. It's not the CPU.

However, with less voltage going to the CPU in lower power states, the whining noise isn't as loud. This leads me to believe that the bridge is reacting to the CPU getting too much voltage in an idle state when it's not using the power its being given.


Just my hypothesis. Thoughts?

 

That's the heatsink over the cpu. The voltage idea makes sense.

 

ahem....

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=303800

 

Well, my temps are great now Previous idling at 58-60C (low to mid 80s, warm southern california day) is now idling at 50-51C* with the Zalman NC2000 (on max, which is near inaudible - far quieter than the M860TU's fans even on low). So, adding another (verified) recommendation for this cooler This cooler worried me, as very little air seems to be getting pushed upwards, but it works!

*That is, it was brought down to 50C after idling around 58C, and not 'reached 50C from a cold boot.'

 

Are you referring to the HDD temps?

Hitachi 320.7200 @ 52c no additional cooler required! No whining either

 

Yep. Crazy; my 250GB/5400rpm Hitachi idled at 58-60C.

 

An update regarding temperatures...
Just finished playing the last level of Crysis the one on the carrier, with the Alien War Ship, with all High and etc...
Just got a max of 90ºC on the GPU. Toasty...
This is the hottest I have seen my GPU during gameplay.

That's quite hot, isn't it?

 

Actually, it is within specifications up to about 100C.

 

actually milcs you should be happy it doesnt down clock like another notebook did..

 

Oh, I'm completely surrendered to this notebook...
This is a notebook that didn't make all the promises in the world... yet it delivered all the promises others made (hint... m15x).
I simply love this notebook... not a single moment of doubt or hesitation.

Regarding my temps... it's a bit too high, but again.. that's the first. Normally it is around 84ºC (maximum). I would prefer if it would stay there as we all know that 100ºC inside a laptop (even if withn specifications) is not a good thing to be happening.

 

My little friend arrives tomorrow to bad i wont be at the door to snatch it from the UPS man, oh well when i do get home fun times begin wohooo!!

 

It's weird that my network adapter stops working and the computer won't pick it up when I scan for hardware changes. Only after restarting Vista does it work. I hope it has nothing to do with the Ethernet port being so close to the video card, which I have overclocked....

 

The Fingerprint reader, is it just used for Microsoft user login's or what? Can you use it for Mozilla passwords (email, banking etc...)? How does it store and use your password?

 

The theory is: you can use it for Windows login, dialog boxes, Internet Explorer and Firefox for password. You fill the blanks, swap your finger then it saves the registration info into some kind of encrypted file or something. The next time you are on the page, you swap your finger and it should replay the registration info and login.

My experience: the fingerprint reader, when installed on a 64-bits operating system, will only work with 64-bits browser, not 32-bits (and since most ActiveX like Flash only work in 32-bits browser...err) In Internet Explorer 64-bits, it was able to detect the form but not to save it correctly on any webpage I tried (hotmail, google, yahoo...) so for my case, it doesn't work. For windows dialog boxes, it works and I saw how this worked: you swap your finger and the software playback some kind of macro, like automated key strokes to enter your login info...For Windows login, just swap your finger and you're in

 

Is it worth $50 bucks

 

You can opt to not get it? It was a mandatory thing for most of our systems. I probably wouldn't get it if I had a choice not to; I have the software uninstalled (sort of bulky) and haven't played around with it yet. I don't really think it has any sort of extra security added to it and seems like a gimmick. I mean - what's more secure: someone guessing your password or someone cutting your finger off and using it to get into your notebook?

Ok that was a bit more gruesome than it sounded in my head.

 

lol, well, Eurocom seem to be the only ones that let you get rid of it. I'm looking towards them & a few others, that is why I mention it.

 

For now, no. The hardware seems good but the software delivered simply doesn't worth it. Its like the opposite of Apple: not awesome hardware (design doesn't count here) but nice software. I'm looking forward to some improvements in the software, maybe it works with Firefox, just waiting for someone else to confirm . For now, the reader does 2 jobs: Windows Login and separating left and right click

The webcam, I believe, is not the best quality but I wouldn't say no to this since it can be useful from time to time. But if you are sure you don't need it, the quality doesn't worth the price. But again, I have friends and contacts, webcam is useful even if I don't regularly use it.

 

If you order from Eurocom with these options, are you getting the exact same hardware that you'd be getting with a Sager, or is it different?

 

I did get this thing working on firefox after a bit of digging... but to be honest with firefox's password memory I don't really use it too often. The only time I really use this is to get back into my account on windows after sleep mode =/.

 

The basics are the same, the Chassis, CPU, GPU, Motherboard. But hardware like the RAM (its still DDR3), & HDD's will be from whatever brand the see fit. Read up on the clevo guide by gophn stickied at the top of this sager/clevo forum.

 

Ok. Btw for the hard drives was there ever a good conclusion as to what hard drives were better than others for temps and stuff i.e. Speed, size, brand or was it all just random?

 

Yes: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=288101

 

For the performance: there is a difference. For the temperature: Random template, except people over PCMW have cooler hard drives.

 

^^ What he said. Also, two things: if you install your own OS and it's XP, make sure you do it right and use an XP install disc that you added SATA drivers to, or the hard drive will run in IDE mode (and therefore slower and hotter) and second, get a notebook cooler, and the hard drive heat will be nonexistent (idles 46-47C for me, load is 50C). I wonder what PCMW is doing - aluminum foil near hdd?

 

Not sure if anyone cares, but just in case anyone does...

... after running 2 consecutive runs of 3dm06 without a cooler, my gpu maxed out at 88C (ambient room temp probably around 25C).

After putting on my NC2000 cooler and running 2 consecutive runs again, max gpu temp was 81C.

With cooler, and after playing Crysis Warhead for about an hour, GPU reached max temp of 83C. Seems like the NC2000 drops your max gpu temp by about 7 C.

Petrov.

 

That's weird...my GPU never goes over ~80. Maybe I don't do heavy stuff but from what I remembered, Crysis Warhead didn't put too much pressure on the GPU temp.

Call of Duty 4, max settings on everything (except sync every frame), highest resolution:

 

got my np8660 three weeks ago and tried to play far cry...the old one thinking my 9800 would tear it up but i come to find that the only way to get anything more than just bluish white and some faded black lines on the screen i have to play it at all very low graphics...why is this shouldn't the card be able to play this game on high?

 

That is not right. Three weeks? Why didn't you post here earlier?

Have you updated all of your drivers? Specifically the GPU?

I hope it's not a defective graphics card.. you might want to start your own thread for this one.

 

It definitely should be able to play this, and yeah update to 179.13 nvidia drivers asap and retry, if you haven't. Then run some benchmarks (3dmark06 for gpu), and check temperatures.

 

REQUEST:
Can anyone please post the following pictures of their 860tu configured with a native resolution of 1680x1050:

1) Desktop in its native resolution (1680x1050)
2) Desktop resolution changed to 1440x900 (or 1280x800)
3) In-game with native resolution (1680x1050)
4) In-game with resolution changed to 1440x900 (or 1280x800)
5) Menu of a game, or screen filled with lots of HUD elements in native resolution (1680x1050)
6) Menu of a game, or screen filled with lots of HUD elements with resolution changed to 1440x900 (or 1280x800)

If you could do that for me I'd be very very happy! I'll appreciate it very much!
I can't get this notebook in my country in a lower native resolution so I want to check what side-effects I should expect when changing the resolution.
(I'm afraid 1680x1050 will be too heavy for demanding games :s that's why I prefer lower resolutions)
I think this issue will affect gaming more likely than normal use as setting the screen to a lower resolution is beneficial for the FPS. I'll leave my desktop to its native resolution for normal use but I would still like to see how much the screen blurs, or stretches.

Thank you!

 

Native:


2)


3)


Maybe you don't see the difference because that's cellphone quality its just for a quick response When I lowered the resolution, it hurted my eyes, it was more grainy or something but that was the same when I lowered my Dell Precision resolution from 1900x... to 1680x... You get use to that. As for gaming, I lowered the resolution in Crysis and I can tell you there's no problem with that.

 

I haven't had any issues playing on the 1680x native resolution, by the way; I've tried the Witcher & Mass Effect, neither of which are graphics-lite games or anything. Crysis and maybe CoD would be the only games that currently come to my mind where a resolution change might be needed.

 

I've played Crysis, Crysis Warhead, CoD4, Bioshock, Gears of War, Mass Effect, etc...

If you max all settings its going to be hard to run any game at native resolution. Maybe CoD4 and Gears of War... appart from that, I doubt it.

For instance, I can play Bioshock all maxed but at 1280x800. It's not a big deal though...

 

You're talking about the 9600m gt and not the 9800m gts right?

 

no,sir milcs is talking about the 9800GT

 

I can say CoD4 runs at all max settings (except Dual video card and Sync every frame ) at native resolution with an average of 50fps. Max:90 (capped at 85, if I change this, I get kicked by PB), Min:~30. Lowest:15 (happened once)

But I can only run Crysis Warhead at native when everything is at Mainstream, no AA of course.

 

I play Mass Effect maxed out at 1680x1050 and it runs really well, by the way. No difference lagwise or rendering wise from 1280x for me.

 

I play Mass Effect maxed out at 1280x with AA and there are lags sometimes.

I can't even imagine at native resolution. Maybe I've got a problem (but I don't think so, as my Crysis Benchmarks are fine).

 

I'm running 32bit XP, and yanked out half or more of its services and then some. Checked out this optimization thread yet? (XP only I guess): http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=305223

Hell, I'm down to running Mass Effect windowed at native res (actually sometimes I bump it down to 1440xwhatever to fit more windows) so I can switch between that and firefox sometimes and not have the 30 second loading effect happen :S Lag happens the first 10 seconds after I switch back to the window, or so. I've been pretty impressed with my notebook.

 

I play at native res, maxed w/ shadows and blur, and 16xAF set in the ini file and never drop below 30fps. If your talking about those occasional stutters, that's just because of how the engine was built on the 360.

Protip: To fix glitchy shadows, go to Documents -> Bioware -> Config -> BioEngine.ini. Find DepthBias and change it to 0.030.

 

Ordered my 860 like 2 hours ago, now the waiting begins .

So in the meantime, can someone post some links for the most important programms.

I have already set up a custom Windows XP setup including 178.13 custom Inf driver.

 

- Driver fix for hard drive (Intel Matrix Storage [...] 8.5)
- Intel Wireless 5300 drivers 12.1....
- *opt* Protector Suite 5.8.2 for fingerprint
The rest is on the CD. Maybe there's some update for Realtek but they never have improvements on the drivers.

JKDefrag ?

 

Just wondering which of you ordered the "Nexus" from Kobalt Computers (on the NBR Group Buy), and what Intel WiFi card model you all have?

Just wondering, because a lot of you are saying that you have the 5300 inside, and I've discovered that I have the 4965. I probably received my laptop last out of those who initially did the Group Buy option with me (ordered mine on 7th August - received it only yesterday). Just wondering why I would have an older WiFi card in mine when some people have the newer and supposedly better one...?

 

Just finished off Call of Duty 4 on my M860TU.... took A LOT of screenshots that I thought I'd share with my fellow M860TU owners. Running on max settings, 4x AA 1680x1050, although photobucket automatically resized them.

WARNING: SCREENSHOTS OF THE ENTIRE GAME, CONTAIN MASSIVE SPOILERS


http://s490.photobucket.com/albums/rr266/Clyzm/

Enjoy =]


edit: if anyone would happen to want the full size of any screenshot, tell me the file name and I'd be happy to post the 1680x1050 version.

 

Woah, there's really A LOT of screenshots.

 

5300 here; I think this or the 5100 are standard on this machine, and most new notebooks these days. Hm, the 4965's quite a bit older. Was there a wireless option stating this?

Clyzm: Nice screenshots! Makes me want to play the game, but eh FPS.... But very pretty.

 

Hehe, I just bound the screenshot button to the back button of my G7 mouse and played through the entire game in two days.

There's a few crappy ones in there, but I just uploaded all the ones I had.


Also, the wireless thing seems so fishy to me o.o... definitely give Kobalt a call and see what they have to say about that.

 

Oh and, alum foil = fail.

I went and tested this out, and placed a square of aluminum foil on the inside of the case back (which is covered with alum foil, or rather a thin sheet of aluminum, almost everywhere except in the hard drive area, on the inside) with double sided tape, and the hard drive runs about 4 degrees *warmer*, with a Zalman NC2000 on full blast. Idling at 51C instead of 46-48C now.

So I don't recommend the aluminum foil idea